Wanted By the FBI: The AK-47 Bandit

Wanted By the FBI: The AK-47 Bandit

The FBI needs your help to identify a fugitive who shot a police officer with an AK-47 style assault rifle after he allegedly robbed a bank.

Video Transcript

Mollie Halpern: This surveillance video shows the so-called AK-47 Bandit during his latest bank robbery in Nebraska. As you can see, the bandit brandishes an AK-47 with a drum magazine—just as he has in the string of robberies he is linked to in California, Washington State and Idaho.

He allegedly used that weapon to fire at a police officer patrolling the area near his first known bank robbery in Chino, California. Just before that same robbery, investigators believe he called the 911 dispatch center as a diversionary tactic to delay police response to the robbery. Take a listen to his voice to see if you recognize it:

Caller: I have a bomb…this is not a drill, you hear me?

Mollie Halpern: Case Agent Kevin Boles….

Kevin Boles: We at the FBI as well as the Chino Police Department, we are very concerned for the safety of the public as well as law enforcement officers based on this individual’s propensity for violence.

Kevin Boles: Tinted windows, it’s a a chrome package, chrome wheels. This is going to be your run of the mill Joe Blow living in suburban USA that happens to own this vehicle and nobody is going to suspect that it’s him.

Halpern: In total, the AK-47 Bandit is wanted for five actual and one attempted robbery in four states between February of 2012 and this past August. The FBI and its local law enforcement partners in those states are conducting a joint investigation into this case.

Together, the agencies are offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the AK-47 Bandit. If you have information, dial 1-800-CALL-FBI. Visit www.fbi.gov for more details. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau and this is Wanted by the FBI.